It is often said by people that, "statistics can prove anything." There are three types of lies - lies, demand lies and statistics - wicked in the order of their naming. A Paris banker said, "Statistics is like a miniskirt, it covers up essentials but gives you the ideas."

Thus by "distrust of statistics" we mean lack of confidence in statistical statements and methods. The following reasons account for such views about statistics.

Figures are convincing and, therefore people
easily believe them.

They can be manipulated in such a manner
as to establish foregone conclusions.

The wrong representation of even correct
figures can mislead a reader. For example, John earned $ 4000
in 1990 - 1991 and Jem earned $ 5000. Reading this one would
form the opinion that Jem is decidedly a better worker than
John. However if we carefully examine the statement, we might
reach a different conclusion as Jemís earning period is unknown
to us. Thus while working with statistics one should not only
avoid outright falsehoods but be alert to detect possible distortion
of the truth.